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Battle of Sleheyron
The Battle of Sleheyron was a battle that took place during the Mandalorian foray into Hutt Space in early 20 ABY. Conducted as a joint operation between Clans Krisk, Vizsla, and Wren, the battle featured Gustav Krisk's defection to the Hutt cartel and ended with a Mandalorian orbital bombardment of the planet in order to deny the Hutts key tibanna supplies. Background By this stage in the war, Mandalore's siege of Kessel was expected to conclude in a matter of weeks rather than months. Sleheyron and Formos were situated on the primary hyperlane to Kessel from either direction; Mandalore believed that the Hutts intended to use Sleheyron and Formos as staging grounds to send reinforcements to Kessel. With Clan Bralor's recent victory on Formos and Clan Cadera and Vizsla's then-ongoing assault on Cyborrea (the nearest Hutt world to Sleheyron), it was believed that a conquest of Sleheyron would assure victory on Kessel. Prelude The original plan of attack as devised by Arden Wren was to infiltrate Sleheyron's tibanna refineries with civilian vessels, disguising the Mandalorian army as smugglers and mercenaries. Once inside the planet's refineries the Mandalorians would overpower the local security forces and mount their own defense of the refineries against the facilities' very owners. This plan was overturned at the last minute by Gustav Krisk, who proposed that the entire Mandalorian brigade perform an airborne assault from low orbit and land atop the refineries and other key buildings, attacking from the top down and seizing military bases in addition to civilian facilities. Krisk incorrectly suggested that the Hutts' aerial defense batteries would be unable to hit targets as small as individual Mandalorians. Unbeknownst to the Wrens and Vizslas, Clan Krisk had already been bribed by the Hutts to abandon their comrades in battle, and provided landing coordinates that would place the Mandalorians in the center of an ambush. The battle At 0430 on 20:3:12 ABY, the Mandalorian assault began. As Arden Wren's battalion neared the landing zone, the Field Marshal double-checked his landing coordinates and found them to be flawed: nothing of strategic importance was in his area of operations. Despite this, the mission continued as planned. When the Mandalorian forces were roughly one kilometer above the landing zone, Hutt anti-aircraft batteries responded with flak shells against the Wren and Vizsla infantry; the flak shrapnel was capable of penetrating Mandalorian body gloves and piercing jetpacks with explosive effect. The battalions were forced to take evasive action, but lost companies worth of men in the process. Though the Wrens already sustained heavy casualties, upon landing the tides of battle changed for the better. The Mandalorians cleared every building in the town from the top down as planned, and some Wrens turned the rooftop flak cannons on the streets below to clear out groups of Hutt mercenaries. Shortly after clearing the buildings, the Mandalorians detected two companies of Ubrikkian tanks and two companies of Ubese on swoop bikes approaching from all directions. Thousands of Ubese and Gamorrean mercenaries also emerged from the city's sewage system, enveloping the depleted Mandalorian force entirely. Krisk revealed that the Hutts offered him three times the Republic's bounty on the Hutt who controlled Kessel and withdrew his forces. Betrayed and at less than half their original strength, the Mandalorians made a fighting retreat back to orbit. Once all Mandalorian forces were evacuated, the fleet above Sleheyron bombarded the world's garrisons and tibanna refineries to deny the Hutts access to any military or economic resources, then regrouped with the Mandalorian forces on Nimban. Aftermath Gustav Krisk's betrayal shocked the Mandalorian community and brought great dishonor upon Clan Krisk. The clan fought hard to cleanse its reputation during the battles of Kessel and Nar Shaddaa. Gustav's first cousin once removed, Ulrik Krisk, removed him from command of the Clan Krisk forces for the duration of the campaign and replaced him with Adulph Krisk, the governor of Corellia. Because of the defection of a number of Clan Krisk's soldiers, the siege over Kessel was drawn out and would last far longer than anticipated. Arden Wren would continue to be haunted by Krisk's betrayal well into 30 ABY, and his memory of the event dominated his interactions with Gustav Krisk during their reunion in Keldabe. Category:Battles